But this is a good one. Remember the 101 Things to Do with Meatballs and Farm Rich review a did a month or so ago?

You don’t? Man, how quickly they forget. This one.

Well they sent me FOUR books and FOUR coupons for free product to give away. That means you have ..umm..alot of chances to win. You get an entry for each of the following:

• Leave a comment
• Blog it (leave a comment telling me you did) linking back to this post
• twitter it (leave a comment telling me you did) linking to this post
• Follow me on twitter (@MaryeAudet) and leave a comment telling me you did

So that is 16 chances to win, since there are 4 cookbooks. Each cookbook will be sent out with a coupon so you can try your first recipe for almost free. Lets keep this open until 8 p.m. CST  Tuesday July 14, 2009. I will announce the winner by Wednesday July 15 at noon, CST. Sorry, since the postage is my dime this is only open to US residents.

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Ready……Set……Go…….

Post from: Baking Delights

I have my consult with the general surgeon on Wednesday, July 15. Not sure where we are headed after that but you know you will be the first to know…o..k…so maybe second to know. I am hoping to get a contest post up later today, so please check back before bedtime.

I can’t believe it is the middle of July, can you? I am looking at the unruly pile of firewood that needs to be split before cold weather gets here and wondering when Matt will have to to do it. We seem to have so much going all the time that it is tempting to give up, sell out, and buy a McMansion on a Zero Lot.  I keep reminding myself how miserable I would be and how miserable the kids would be although a couple of them keep pushing for that lifestyle.

17 years  ago today my third child was born. He was my first to be born at home. So much has changed in our lives since then; we have lost people we love and gained people we love. We have moved several  times. Our finances have changed. More than once! And for some reason, we have been increasingly busier.

I wonder where the simple life went? Where did we lose the ability to sit and drink sweet tea on the porch on a hot afternoon? And more importantly, how do we get that quality of life back?

Today’s blogsurfing Saturday is a little different. Instead of highlighting other blogs I am going to be linking to some very cool posts on Baking Delights that you may have forgotten or not known about. I realized last night that I have so many posts (well over 900) that some of the first ones have become invisible!

• Tie Dyed Tortilla Chips - I love these. I came up with this idea for a groovy retro party. The kids had a great time painting the tortillas and there is just not anything better than homemade chips.
• Blueberry-White Chocolate Muffins - I think the original for this came from Nestle? I have been making them for several years (5 or 6!) and they are ALWAYS a hit. Just in time for National Blueberry Muffin Day today!
• Cookie Dough Brownies - amazingly yummy for all you raw cookie dough fans. This one is in my upcoming book.
• Plum and White Tea Scones -  Oh I need to make this again ….SOON.
• Orzo Salad with Asian Ginger Dressing - there just isn’t much more to say about thing. Yum.
• Summer Squash Pudding - this is addictive. Even your dyed in the wool squash haters will love it.
• Coconut Praline Pie - my very first post at Baking Delights. Lousy picture. GREAT recipe.
• Lemon Brussels Sprouts with Pistachios - I love these. Absolutely could eat them 24/7
• Banana Maple Bundt Cake with Walnut Praline Swirl - if you have some really ripe, gooey bananas this is what you need to do with them!
• 50 Best Cookie Recipes on the Internet - this post still gets MOST of my traffic every month. It has been copied, stolen, complained about, made fun of, and worshiped. Still a great list. Think it may be time for a part II.

There ya have it. Ten recipes, dusted off and ready for you to take a look at. Have a great day and don’t forget to check in later about the giveaway!

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Summer is hot here. We don’t use air conditioning, haven’t for the several years we have lived in this house. Frankly, it is too expensive, but I also like the idea of flowing with the seasons..experiencing them rather than manipulating them. I know..I am so weird.

Nothing is worse than cooking a hot meal in a hot kitchen and serving it in a hot dining room. That is why God made salad.

Check it out.

Who isn’t going to eat that? Colorful, cool, with a variety of flavors and textures, Chopped Salad is an awesome meal to set on the table when it is too hot to cook. I always make the tortilla chips homemade, you can by them and crumble them if you like, but if it doesn’t taste as good don’t blame me.

The only secret is trying to get most of the ingredients chopped to the same size so the flavor/texture stays balanced.

Serve this with some ice cold melon or mango, or a fresh fruit sorbet and you are good to  go.

Chopped Salad

• 1 package organic baby herb salad
• 1 red onion chopped
• 1 can garbanzo beans
• 1 can dark red kidney beans
• 1 can black olives, chopped
• 1 large bell pepper, chopped
• 2 jalapenos chopped
• 2 ripe tomatoes chopped (I did not have any the day I made it for this image)
• 1 avocado, chopped (optional)
• 1 bunch of cilantro chopped
• 2 hard boiled eggs chopped
• 1/2 lb diced Monterey Jack cheese cubed (pepper Jack is awesome)
• 2 cups tortilla chips, tortillas cut into squares before frying
• Recipe Chipotle Vinaigrette

Mix all ingredients together and serve immediately. It looks better if you plate each salad individually and add the chips last but you can serve it family style in a big bowl.  Yes it is that easy! Serves 8

Chipotle Vinaigrette

• 4 tbs balsamic vinegar
• 4 tbs lime juice
• 1 tbs dijon mustard
• 1-2 tablespoons strong honey (this is always best raw and local!)
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 2 tsp chopped chipotle in adobo sauce (canned, you can find it in the ethnic section of your market)
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 2 tbs fresh cilantro, minced
• kosher salt and pepper to taste

Whisk together, check seasonings and allow to stand for 30 minutes before using. Makes about 3/4 cup.

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The plates are completely natural, organic, and biodegradable.  The are made from a completely renewable resource and hardly ripple the environment at all.  Plus they are beautiful.

I am thinking of making a notecard out of that image, by the way. I just love these plates. Ahem…O.k..

The plates are made from the Adaka Palm tree. But…and this is cool…no tree was harmed in the making of these plates. Maybe a bug or two was squished but that’s o.k..so far bugs aren’t an endangered species, right? Anyway, the tree drops the sheaths of its leaves and grows more, just like other trees. Workers collect these leaves and take them to be cleaned in fresh water and molded into plates. Sustainable, eco friendly plates that can be tossed onto the compost pile.  But wait, there’s more!

They are waterproof, leak proof, and handle hot and cold. No matter what I used on these plates they held up perfectly.

The plates are very unique. Some are very plain and others are spotted. Some are lighter and others are darker. Plus I love the ridges. I have touch sensitivity. It is weird but there are several textures that I just can’t handle. Touching these textures makes me gag…things like styrofoam, popsicle wrappers, some magazine pages…ick. Anyway..I loved the feel of these. They are ridgey and fun to touch. Just remember..simple things for simple minds….

They come in several shapes including:

• Hexegon
• Round
• Square
• Rectangle

They really are elegant and beautiful. I will admit to washing them off and re-using them…shhhhh…..Everyone loved these.

You are not going to be able to buy 100 plates for 1.99 though.   These are a little on the pricey side, understandably I suppose because a lot of work goes into them. Check them out at Marx Foods.

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• She could throw her really cute red and white polka dot apron over her head and cry
• She could create magic

I think she decided to create magic and threw ingredients together to make Blondies. You know why? These are the most versatile of bar cookies. I mean you can toss almost anything in there… well, within reason..I mean I am not suggesting Blondies as a way to get your kids to eat liver, you know? But any kind of nut, any kind of chocolate, butterscotch, peanut butter, or white chocolate chip… dried fruit…the list goes on.

I wanted something a little different. so I chopped up Snickers Bars. Marc is somewhat addicted to Snickers so I figured it would be a no brainer dessert.

I liked how they came out. I was not expecting the Snickers to melt into the bars as much as they did but other than that it was a great addition. These are sweet, chewy, and have lots of flavor expoding in your mouth all at once. Imagine your tastebuds running around your tongue shouting “INCOMING!!”

You can’t imagine that? Well then, I guess you will have to make these and experience it for yourself.

Snicker Bar Blondies

• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 3 regular sized Snickers, chopped in chunks
• 1 cup peanut butter chips
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup  butterscotch chips (or brickle)
• 1 cup honey roasted peanuts coarsely chopped

1. Preheat oven to 325F
2. Allow butter to come to room temperature
3. Butter a 13x 9 inch pan
4. Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda
5. Beat the butter until smooth and creamy
6. Beat in the sugars until no longer grainy
7. Add the eggs, one at a time
8. Add the vanilla
9. Stir in the dry ingredients
10. Fold in the chips, nuts, and Snicker Bars
11. Smooth into the prepared pan
12. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted in center comes out with a few crumbs clinging to it. Cool, and cut into desired sized bars.

Makes 1 13×9 inch pan

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We generally have a huge 4th of July Picnic but this year Marc had to work and Erin and Jon had plans elsewhere. We will be going up to a picnic at our church later but for now? Very low key.

I made lemon butter bars to take to the picnic, and will be making a red, white, and blue heirloom potato salad using the Southwestern Potato Salad recipe I posted. The butter bars use a cake mix, and you can substitute any flavor mix to have a variety of butter bars…and lets face it, folks, the world NEEDS more butter bars…desperately.

Anyway, here is the July 4th version of Saturday Surfing.

• Have you ever had Italian Wedding Cake? I am not even sure where it gets it’s name but the one by Emily at Sugar Plum looks delicious.
• What would the 4th be without Macaroni Salad. This one from Life’s Ambrosia looks fabulous.
• Courtney has a yummy sounding chocolate, banana, and cinnamon infused jam on her blog. My oh my.
• Everything anyone could want to know about food and probably much that they don’t want to know. Food Reference.
• Cathy is just so cool. I scan her blog, Noble Pig, once in awhile because I love her wit, photography, and majorly awesome recipes…like these Firecracker Cupcakes with Poprocks.
• The Purple Foodie has a recipe for Banana Nutella Crepes and a cookbook give away going on now. It ends the 25th of July so you have some time.
• Passionate About Baking is one of my favorites. These chocolate, walnut, and dried cranberry bar cookies look amazing.
• foodiePrints has been fun to get to know on twitter, and I have more and more been furtively visiting his blog. Check out these peach and yogurt muffins…those will wake ya up in the morning.
• Donna is a fellow Texan (except she has an accent, y’all) and I have actually met her. What a sweetie. Just like this Raspberry Margarita Smoothie.
• Kahlua Carrot Cakes with Maple icing on Worth the Whisk. Sigh.

O.k..and that is it for this week. Hey, I will be announcing a cool giveaway next week, reviewing some eco-friendly disposable items, AND posting a recipe for Snicker Bar Blondies, a cool chopped salad and some other goodies.

Have a great holiday weekend!

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Post from: Baking Delights

The sauce is spicy. If you don’t like it spicy then adjust the amount of habenero or change the peppers totally. You could go with a chipotle, a jalapeno, or a serrano. It is hard to say how much to use because each person seems to have a different opinion as to what is spicy and the peppers can vary in heat from pepper to pepper. Let me tell you what happened to me.

I was getting the ingredients together for this sauce. Normally I taste a pepper to see how much I will want to use because I have had enough variation in heat to totally mess up a recipe. So I took a tentative nibble…they were, after all, habeneros.

Nothing. just a tiny little zap on the tongue. Sigh. I proceeded to chop about three habeneros and add them to the sauce. As I chopped the last one I popped a bit of it in my mouth.

ZOWIE. I saw stars. I became one with the universe. The top of my head came off. Again, verily, verily, I say unto you…always, always taste the peppers. EACH pepper. They vary in heat!  Quickly I pulled as many peppers as I could see from the bubbling sauce and put them in the chicken scraps. Our chickens like spicy things.

So, be sure to to check your peppers for heat and adjust your recipes accordingly.

This sauce was so good that people were spreading it on bread until it was gone.

Blueberry Habenero Sauce

• 1 large, sweet onion (like Vidalia) peeled and chopped
• 1 quart of blueberries
• 2 habenero peppers, chopped (adjust as needed)
• 1 tsp of adobo sauce from a can of chipotle in adobo, you can leave this out if you don’t have it but it adds a nice dimension
• 1/4 cup good quality balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup sugar, or to taste
• Juice and zest of one lime
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• Olive oil for pan

1. Saute the onion in the oil until it is soft.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients, except for the lime juice, and simmer until the sauce reduces by about half. This will take ten minutes or so.
3. Add the lime juice and remove from heat.
4. Blend the sauce in the blender until smooth.
5. Brush on meat before cooking and then serve remaining sauce as a garnish.

Makes about 1 1/2 cups

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Let me just say..first of all…there are alot of them. The cup sizes are from 1/8 of a cup up to 2 cups. The measuring spoons go from unbelievably tiny to two tablespoons.

When I say unbelieveably tiny I mean it. Their specialty sizes are listed as such:

• drop 1/64t
• smidgeon 1/32t
• pinch 1/16t
• dash 1/8t

There is also a leveler included. I liked these spoons alot. They are easy to use, red (they match my laptop) and come in a enough sizes to make anyone happy. The only downside to the products, at least the red ones, is that it is hard for me to see the measurements on them. They are embossed but the same color as the spoons. I would prefer that companies give a nod to those of us with high ceilings, eco-friendly lightbulbs, and less than perfect eyes by making the numbers easy to read. I will be getting around this with a bottle of nail polish or a sharpie.

The cups are fantastic. The have a lip on them that allowed me to pour some expensive balsamic vinegar (special occasions only) back into the bottle when I had mis-poured…and nary a drop spilled. It all was saved. The bottoms have a no skid band so that they sit firmly on your counter. You are not going to knock them and have them race across the counter toward the inevitable floor like lemmings. Nope.

The bowls are polished so ingredients slide out easily. Again, the numbers are hard to read but other than that this product is one of my favorites. I will be ordering bowls for sure.

You can find more out about the product and the company, including how to buy, at Pourfectbowl.

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To freeze them just put them straight into a ziploc type freezer bag and lay flat in the freezer. Don’t rinse them, or clean them other than pulling out any obvious stems or leaves.  They will keep for more than a year..One year we had them for 18 months. It just can’t be easier than that!

I am working on a post for later…but I wanted to post this while I was thinking about it.

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Matt will be 17 on July 11. In other words we have been going a very long time.  Now, you can’t just go blueberry picking, there is a ceremony that must be carried out.

Blueberries for Sal must be read aloud the night before. You must get up while it is still dark and eat breakfast in the car on your way there…and at least one teenager must complain that they would rather be doing something with friends…at least until they get there… You must eat as many as you can and still fill your basket before the sun gets too hot..and then you must fight to stay awake on the way home, and figure out that you should have used sunblock. You must then end the day with blueberry pancakes for dinner.

If you do it any other way you are just not doing it right. Pick your own farms are a wonderful way to eat local, support the local economy and build family relationship all at the same time. I intend to do a couple of searches to see what is available in my area besides blueberries.  It is great for kids to be part of gathering food and interacting with it in it’s natural setting, rather than assuming that blueberries grow in pint containers in the back of the grocery store.

Here are some pics of our day…It was great!

The bushes were full of blueberries this year.

Nick finds the perfect berry.

It doesn't take too long to fill the baskets.

Full baskets...

Nick and Sean rehydrate

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